Redemption
by SamiMikaelson
Summary: Just a short drabble about how the Originals could've ended instead. Contains spoiler of season 5.


**Hello! Last night I had to work a night shift. I got bored and thought about how there were no new episodes of The Original I could look forward to. This made me think about the shitty 'ending' JP gave us. So, I decided to write down my thoughts on how it should have ended.**  
 **Once again, this was created in the middle of the night. It's not that good and I'm preparing for my other job just now. Please excuse any mayor mistakes! I just thought that maybe some of you would fancy reading something that contradicted the series finale.**  
 **I'm posting this for fun and I do not won The Originals. (How I wish I would!)**  
 **Have fun reading this short drabble starting at TO S5E12.**  
 **Also, if you haven't seen season 5: This contains mayor spoilers. You've been warned!**

* * *

 **Redemption**

Hope walked through the Salvatore School for the young and gifted. She knew there was something her dad wasn't telling her. How was he supposed to get rid of the hollow once it was siphoned out of her body? It needed to be put somewhere safe first, anyway. And she knew it had to be something powerful.  
Hope turned around a corner and found the person she was looking for.

"Mrs. Salvatore?" Caroline looked at Hope with a smile.

"Hello, Hope." She greeted the teenager.  
"Mrs. Salvatore, I was wondering if I could talk to you for a minute?" She asked hopefully.

"Of course. Take a seat." Caroline pointed at the stool in front of her desk.

"Thank you." Hope answered and sat down.

"So, what's your problem?" Caroline asked curiously.

"Well, I know we're not allowed... but I read Stefan Salvatore's diary." Hope confessed shyly.  
Trust the only Mikaelson in the school to break the rules. Caroline smiled at Hope.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" She asked.

"No. But from what I read it sounded like you know my father well."  
Oh, boy. Here we go, Caroline thought. This should not be happening.

"Something like that." Was the only appropriate answer Caroline could come up with.

"It's just that... All I ever read about him in these books is bad. Really bad." Hope confessed.

"And you're wondering if I would say the same about him?" Caroline asked.

"I was just wondering if my dad has ever been anything but the villain." Hope said sadly.  
Caroline sighed.

"Hope, you have to understand that I was still very young when I met your father for the first time. And yes, I really hated him in the beginning." Caroline told her. "But soon after that, I realised that there's more to him. And I started to understand him. In the end, we were friends." Friends. That was definitely the wrong word to describe her relationship with Klaus. So wrong. But she couldn't possibly tell hope about the time she had hot hybrid sex with her father in the woods surrounding the school. Now that would be inappropriate!

"My father doesn't have friends." Hope said confused.  
Caroline laughed. She was kinda right. Klaus' was seriously lacking friends.

"He has me." Caroline stated. "Also, you shouldn't waste your time thinking about your father's past. He has changed a lot since the day you were born. He's a better man now. And that's what counts."  
Hope smiled at her, grateful. "Thank you, Mrs. Salvatore. I really needed someone other than family to tell me these things."

"It's all right. If you want to hear more, you can always come and ask." Caroline promised.  
Hope nodded and left.  
Caroline sighed in relief. That was uncomfortable.

"Caroline, may I come in?" Elijah asked.  
What is it with the Mikaelsons and their interest in me today, she wondered.

"Sure, come in."

"Thank you. My apologies, but I couldn't help but overhear your conversation with my niece." He explained.

"Don't worry." Overhear? Yeah, sure.

"I know what Niklaus is planning. You must understand that I cannot let him go through with it."

* * *

Shortly after, Caroline found Klaus on the town's square. He was watching his daughter dance with Landon, and she was watching him. And seeing him like this, so different from who he had been, she knew she had made the right decision.  
She walked over to him.

"Don't worry, I'll behave myself." He told her with his eyes still on Hope and Landon. Then he faced her. "Thank you, for allowing your daughters to be involved in this mess. For trusting me."  
He had this intense look in his eyes, and she felt compelled to make a confession.

"Years ago, when the girls were little, I was in trouble. And I was scared .. And I just put the girls in the car and I drove. And I ended up in New Orleans, looking for you."  
Klaus had a hint of disbelieve in his eyes. And of course he did. After all, she hadn't found him.

"You weren't there. But the point is.." She felt herself struggle for words and turned, so she could face him.

"I think that a part of me has always known, that you weren't the villain in my story." Caroline ended her sentence in almost a whisper.  
There were a lot of emotions displaying in Klaus' eyes until he looked away. Caroline felt nervous. Something she nearly always felt in Klaus' presence.  
Without another word, Klaus moved his head closer to hers, as if he was about to kiss her. Their noses were touching, but Klaus' seemed to be holding himself back, not daring to close the space between their lips.  
Then, bell's sounded from the church and Caroline pulled back.

"I.. Think we need to go back to the school. It's time." She told him.  
Klaus looked pensive, but nodded. "I'll be right behind you."

* * *

Klaus entered the clearing, seeing Alaric and the twins, who were already chanting.

"Where's Caroline?" He asked, hiding the disappointment at not seeing her again.

"Well, she's a vampire and there is a baby werewolf running in the woods. And she just" He turned around and looked Klaus in the eyes. "She just couldn't watch you die."

Klaus struggled for a second. He wished there was another way. A way for him and his family to stay together. And a way for him to finally get his chance with the enchanting blonde vampire. But there wasn't.  
So he walked into the circle the twins had prepared, ready to die.

"Brother!" Elijah called.

"Don't, Elijah." Klaus told him.

"I won't let you do this, Niklaus!" Elijah promised.

"There's nothing -" There was a loud crack and Klaus fell limb to the ground.

"Thank you, Caroline." Elijah said.

She nodded and dragged Klaus' body out of the circle as Elijah entered.  
The twins' chanting grew louder and Caroline saw blue light form above Elijah.  
Then, it penetrated Elijah's chest and Caroline closed her eyes, trying to block out the original's pained screams.  
The chanting stopped and Caroline opened her eyes. The light was gone and Elijah was breathing heavily.  
Alaric and the girls left, leaving Caroline with the originals.

"Caroline, please hand me the stake." Elijah said calmly.

"No." Caroline said. "You should give him the chance to say good-bye."

Elijah eyes his unconscious brother and nodded.

"What's going on here?" Hopes voice came from behind them.

"Oh my god! Dad!" She ran to Klaus' side. "What did you do to him?" she asked Caroline angrily.

"She saved him." Elijah answered.

Hope looked at her uncle, confused.

"He wanted the darkness transferred into him." He explained.

"What? But he would die!"

"That's why I asked Caroline to stop him."

"But I felt it leave my body." Hope said.  
Elijah looked away. Not ready to tell his niece what he had done.

* * *

When Klaus woke up, he realised that he wasn't in the woods any more. His body was lying on a comfortable surface. He looked around and saw Elijah next to him.

"What happened?" He demanded to know.

"I told you, I wouldn't let you do it." It dawned on Klaus, then.

"No, brother." Instinctively he reached for the inside pocket of his jacket, searching for the stake and found it missing.

"Where is the stake?" He asked.

"I have it."

"Why, Elijah?" Klaus asked in a whisper.

"Your daughter needs you, Niklaus." Elijah stated.

"I won't be able to raise her. Not without you." Klaus admitted, thinking about the time Elijah had lost his memories. He had felt lost without his older brother.

"Yes, you will." Elijah insisted.

"I have no idea how to raise a child. And you bloody well know it, Elijah." Klaus said angrily.

"Even if that was true, you are certainly not alone. I imagine our sisters and even Kol will help you along the way. And I get the feeling that a certain headmistress will help you whenever you ask." Elijah said with a knowing smile.

"Caroline?" Klaus asked surprised.

"Yes, brother. She assisted me in my plan to safe you." Elijah explained.

Klaus kept silent for a moment, Alaric's words echoing in his head. She just couldn't watch you die.  
But there was no time to think about Caroline's motives. Not when his brother was dying.

"What happens now?" Klaus asked Elijah.

"I want you to kill me, Niklaus."

Klaus swallowed hard. He had been expecting as much, but still, he wasn't ready to hear it.  
"You know I can't."

"Once again, I have to object. You can. And you will do it rather than letting me suffer." Elijah said confidently. "I have said my good-bye's to our siblings. There's nothing left I wish to do before I die."

Klaus felt the tears that had been threatening to escape all day finally run down his cheeks.  
Klaus got up and so did Elijah.  
Without another word, Klaus hugged his brother, not wanting to let him go. Eventually, he did. He had to.

"I have confidence that you'll find your redemption, Niklaus."

"I won't let you down, brother." Klaus said trough his tears.  
Elijah smiled and handed him the stake.

They stood like that for what felt like hours. Looking into each others eyes. Their tears telling all the things they couldn't say.

"I know you never forgave yourself for letting father bind me to that cross. I just.. I need you to know that I do. I forgive you, brother."

"Thank you." Were the last word Elijah uttered before Klaus dragged the stake through his heart.

Klaus' heart was breaking as he watched his favourite brother burn down to ashes.

* * *

Elijah opened his eyes and took in his surroundings. He was in the woods. But how was that possible? Niklaus had killed him in the Salvatore School.  
"Elijah?" a female voice said quietly behind him.  
He turned around and his breath hitched.  
"Hayley." He said faintly.

* * *

Klaus was still sitting next to his brother's ashes when Caroline entered the room. She frowned at his pained expression.

"You betrayed me." He stated, sensing Caroline.

"Yes." She confirmed. "Elijah came to speak to me earlier. And I agreed with him. Hope needs you."

"I know." He agreed.

Caroline realised it was safe to sit down next to him.

"I'm sorry, though."

"Me too." He said in a low voice.

"Hope's first transformation went well. She's asleep now. Thought you'd want to know." Caroline changed the subject.  
Klaus nodded.

They sat ext to each other for a while, quietly.

"You know, I take it back." She finally said.

Klaus looked at her, confused.

"The promise you made. About not coming back to Mystic Falls. You don't have to stick to that any more. Hope's going to school here. I think she would like her father to visit once in a while." Caroline told.

"Yes, she would." Klaus said. "How about the Headmistress of said school?" He remembered Elijah's words. Klaus needed to know whether his brother was right.

"I'm sure she would like to see you around, too." She said with a faint smile. "We still need that new janitor, you know?"

Klaus broke into a laugh then. Leave it to Caroline to make him laugh when all he wanted to do was cry.

"But seriously, I realised today that loosing you would tear me apart." Caroline admitted. "Also, there are a few promises you still have to make good on."

"Is that so?" Klaus asked with a raised brow.

"I faintly remember being promised the world and a tour through New Orleans." Caroline pointed out. I want to be your last, however long it takes. That was the promise she didn't dare to talk about. But deep down she knew, that it was the most important one.

"I'm a man of my word, love." Klaus confirmed with a smile.


End file.
